


Pomegranate

by szikra



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, so cheesy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-05
Updated: 2013-10-05
Packaged: 2017-12-28 12:01:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/991770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/szikra/pseuds/szikra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Unlike popular belief, Nico di Angelo did not like pomegranates.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pomegranate

**Author's Note:**

> So cheesy, so influenced by Philip Pullman's HDM trilogy/The Amber Spyglass... and my own love for pomegrantes.  
> Evening tale for Jeani. Except that I'm late with like four days.

Unlike popular belief, Nico di Angelo did not like pomegranates. If one asked why, he just shrugged. It was too sweet for him, it wasn’t worth the time picking out the numerous seeds out, it made his fingers sticky.

The first time he ate one was in the Camp Half Blood, at the dinner table, when he took one as dessert after his grilled chicken, and he was too young to figure out on his own how to open it up, so the red juice flowed down on his arm and not even brushing his teeth could wash away the rich, overpowering flavor of the seeds from his mouth. He hated it immediately, especially that he knew its story. He knew how Persephone loved it and he knew how she hated him.

But when he was down in Hades, years later, his father offered him one deep scarlet pomegranate.

‘It’s from her garden’ he said. ‘It can protect you.’

So he took it. It was Persephone’s, it was magic, never spoiling, staying blood red and smelling sweet all the time.

He watched Hades opening one, peeling the seeds, then picking them out with his pale, long fingers, and the seeds sat on his palm like rubies. They shined. Hades’ eyes were full of love as he picked up one seed, and he touched Persephone’s smiling lips with it.

Nico watched them, and his heart stung.

~~~

It was known by everyone in the camp that Nico loved bitter things. He knew that bad tongues told stories about eating bitter because his heart was bitter, too. He drank unsweetened coffee at mornings, and he liked strong green tea. He liked the fresh taste of olives and how they snapped under his teeth.

Maybe he did hate sweet things. He felt the false proudness of standing above romance. He laughed at satyrs chasing nymphs and Aphrodite girls breaking hearts. He felt like he was untouchable.

 

Although the sweet smell of Persephone's pomegranate made him curious. He was careful when he cut it open and he started to carry a few seeds with him all the time. He imagined liking it. He imagined swallowing one and enjoying the sweetness. He imagined falling in love – his love was faceless but he imagined kissing, and he hated the stinging feeling in his chest it made him feel.

~~~

It was dark and he was choking.

His fingers found a seed in his pocket, and he put it into his mouth, his teeth broke it and the liquid filled his mouth.

‘I hate to love to die’ he thought before his heart stopped for the first time.

When his heart started to beat again he spit out the seed and swallowed another one. Six days of death was all he remembered later, and the hated loveliness of the sweet liquid in his mouth.

~~~

He did not eat pomegranates after that.

~~~

‘Chocolate?’ offered Leo. Nico shrugged.

‘I don’t like sweet things.’

Leo looked like he said something scandalous.

‘Not even chocolate?’ he asked.

‘I like Mrs. Jackson’s cake. But that’s it, I guess.’

‘Fruits?’

Nico shook his head. ‘Only kiwis.’

Leo almost dropped the chocolate bar. Everyone knew how sweet-mouthed Leo was, Annabeth literally hit his hand every time he tried to get a spoonful of pure sugar at the breakfast table. He loved caffeine too, and he functioned on both, because he forgot everything once he got to tinker and work with machines, he even forgot time, and only got some more energy from coffee or a piece of candy to work through the night. It was a miracle how thin he still remained, but at least Piper always made him wash his teeth the most carefully.

And Leo was in love with love. He wanted to be loved. He winked at girls and tried to make them laugh without any luck, and he seemed to be obsessed with getting someone to love him.

~~~

For Nico, it seemed like Leo got a new obsession. First, he brought Nico all kind of candies that he kindly declined, until Leo showed him that he got liquorice and they ended up watching a Batman film while Nico chewed on the black strings and Leo popped in all the other candies. He showed Nico how easily he could roast a marshmallow with the small flame of one of his fingers. A few weeks later he got him at least ten different kind of dark chocolate, and they both tasted all, and Nico finally found a cocoa percentage and a brand he liked. Leo even had chocolate with chili and an other one with pink peppercorns, and Nico watched him licking the melted chocolate off his fingers.

Autumn came, and Leo sent him and Iris message to meet him, and they had Dobosh torte, which was a cake with chocolate cream topped with caramel, and while Leo was in love with it, it was just a bit sweeter than Nico would have liked it.

Next time Leo bought some different kinds of dried fruits and they ended up watching an another film. Nico was mainly noming on sour cherry, while Leo liked dates the best, and the fell asleep on each other’s shoulder.

And soon, Nico find himself longing for one special kind of sweetness. He didn’t care about the stinging feeling anymore. He wanted a kiss.

Weeks passed, when Leo showed up with a pomegranate in his hands.

‘No.’ said Nico. He hadn’t had a pomegranate since the jar and that was almost a year ago.

‘This is the last one, okay? I’ll leave you alone, just please try this one, okay?’ Leo pleaded, and Nico opened the door for him.

He watched how Leo peeled the pomegranate, with cutting down its crown and then precisely cutting in the skin and breaking it into pieces; rubies fell on the kitchen table.

Leo picked up one with his thin, tanned fingers, and gently pushed the seed to Nico’s lips. He could hear the blood throbbing in his ears as he parted his lips, and Leo’s finger touched his skin. Nico gently snapped at the seed and he tried to deny, but he couldn’t anymore --- it was the only sweetness he loved.

‘I’ve never eaten a pomegranate’ Leo confessed, and it was Nico’s turn to touch Leo’s lips with a seed. Leo looked into Nico’s eyes, his own were warm brown and serious, like Nico has never seen them, and his hands trembled when he felt the silk of Leo’s lips under the tip of his finger. Leo’s eyelashes fluttered, and he finally smiled.

‘Mhhmm… I like it’ he said. Nico nodded, and popped in another seed, and tried not to think about raising the same hand to his own mouth that Leo kissed.

His chest was heavy, but it didn’t hurt anymore.

‘Wait…’ Leo laughed at him. ‘You smeared some juice on you cheek. Like you’d cut yourself.’ His raised up his hand to swipe it down, but Nico’s eyes met him, and he didn’t moved his palm form Nico’s cheek. He leaned closer…

Nico closed his eyes…

He saw shimmering rubies, and it was a sweetness he finally loved.

**Author's Note:**

> Dobos cake (Dobosh torte is Wikipedia's suggestion, but Dobos is the authentic writing) is a Hungarian thing, sponge cake with chocolate buttercream with caramel on its top and it's really-really good. If you have an opportunity to try it, do so.


End file.
